Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifier: Israel to Tokyo, Netherlands has one more chance
This is a full recap of the three games played during the final day of the WBSC Baseball Europe Africa Qualifier: South Africa-Israel, Netherlands-Italy and Czech Republic-Spain. Israel won the tournament and will represent Europe and Africa in Tokyo
Israel earned the win they needed on the final day of the WBSC Baseball Europe Africa Qualifying Event for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020. Israel thus becomes the second National Team Qualified after the hosts Japan. The second-place Netherlands will have one more chance in the final Qualifier, to be played in early 2020 in Taiwan.
This is a full recap of what happened during the final day of the Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifier. Links will lead you to the tournament pages for full reports, boxscores, statistics and a selection of HD pictures.
Israel outscored South Africa, 11-1. The runs that widened the gap up to the mercy rule limit came on a three-run home run by Israeli leader and former Major League Danny Valencia.
The Netherlands used five pitchers to defeat Italy, 8-3, and earn the right to play the final Baseball Qualifier in early 2020.
Italy got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third against Orland Yintema. The Dutch reversed the lead scoring four runs on three hits against Alessandro Maestri in the top of the fourth and didn’t need to look back.
The Czech Republic came from behind, scored five runs in the top of the eighth and defeated Spain, 7-3, in the last game of the tournament. Jiri Vavrusa pitched a perfect eighth inning and earned the win.
The Czechs, thanks to an impressive finish with two wins in as many games in the last two days, placed third.
Israel finishes first thanks to the win in the head to head with The Netherlands
